A new SketchUp tier for scan, BIM and site work

There has always been an awkward gap in the SketchUp lineup. Pro gives you the modeller, LayOut and the extension ecosystem. Studio gives you all of that plus V-Ray. But plenty of New Zealand practices need the interoperability tools without needing a renderer - because the rendering already happens somewhere else, or because it does not happen at all.

SketchUp Pro Advanced Workflows fills that gap. It sits between Pro and Studio, and it is Pro with three extensions added.

What it adds over Pro

Everything in a Pro subscription is still there - SketchUp for Desktop, LayOut, web and iPad, Extension Warehouse, Trimble Connect and the monthly AI credits. On top of that you get:

• Scan Essentials - bring laser-scan and photogrammetry point clouds straight into SketchUp and model over them, without a separate reality-capture package.
• Revit Importer - open a consultant’s .rvt file as clean, usable SketchUp geometry. No export request, no IFC round trip, no exploded mess to clean up.
• Trimble Site Contractor - model site work and take it to the ground: surfaces, cut-and-fill volumes and machine-readable design files for grading and earthworks.

The one thing it does not add is V-Ray. That is the only difference between Advanced Workflows and Studio, so the choice is genuinely simple: if you render in SketchUp, go Studio. If you do not, Advanced Workflows covers the same modelling ground.

Who it is for in New Zealand

We see the same three situations again and again:

• Practices doing existing-conditions work. Renovation, heritage and seismic assessment jobs that start with a scan of a building that was never drawn properly. Scan Essentials turns that scan into something you can model against instead of a folder of site photos and a tape measure.
• Architects and designers downstream of a Revit team. If the structural or services model arrives as an .rvt and you work in SketchUp, Revit Importer removes the export-request email and the geometry cleanup that follows it.
• Contractors and civil teams. Site Contractor takes the model from design intent to field-ready data that machine control systems can actually use.

If your rendering is handled by V-Ray, Enscape or an external visualiser - or your projects simply never need a photoreal image - you have been paying for Studio to get Scan Essentials and Revit Importer. Now you do not have to.

One thing worth flagging up front: Scan Essentials is Windows only. The rest of the subscription runs on Windows and macOS, and a mixed team can share one set of subscriptions.

Pricing and how to buy

Advanced Workflows is an annual per-user subscription, priced in New Zealand dollars and quoted ex GST like everything else on our site. Current pricing sits on the plans page alongside Go, Pro and Studio so you can see the whole ladder at once - see the plans page for the current figure.

As with every SketchUp plan we sell, you buy on a NZD GST invoice, card or on account, and you get set-up help and troubleshooting from our team here rather than an offshore queue. There is also an Advanced Workflows Plus option, which is the same software with our NZ support services, tutorial library and training access added.

Not sure whether Pro, Advanced Workflows or Studio is the right fit? Compare every plan and feature side by side, or get in touch and we will work it out with you.